"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to let you in."

-- Robert Frost

Monday, July 18, 2016

seville

On Sunday at church, we met Abraham.

Sometimes there are folks with whom you just fall in with and feel like family. And we sure clicked with Abraham.

He and his sweet wife ... who is a native resident and interpreted some of the meetings at church for us ... have been living in Spain while achieving advanced college degrees. She was finishing up her finals and Abraham volunteered to give us a tour of Seville so that she could concentrate on her studies.

Oh man, did we fall in love with him. He could have been our long lost cousin, or uncle, or brother.

First, Abraham took us to the Plaza de Espania of Seville.

There's not a camera in the world that can do justice. The colors, the texture, the magnitude.

Apparently parts of Lawrence of Arabia and a Star Wars movie were filmed there and the kids thought that was sort of neat.

Mostly, it just felt like Spain's grandeur and we drank it in. The magnificence is unparalleled.

The heat of the day started to set in so we slipped over to the adjoining park.

One of these giant bikes looked compelling.

Christian and Abraham were peddling experts.

It turned into a race and ran the rest of our legs off. Those of us in the back seat gave up and held on for dear life crying with laughter.

Abraham hopped out to take our picture (while Newel took a call to settle our new house purchase of course ;)

There was no one around to get one of all of us together so Abraham and I swapped places to get a pic with him.

Because nothing makes a person part of our family quicker than hauling our combined weight around in the high heat of Spain.

That was one gorgeous park.

Walking through the city, we took a detour through his school, University de Sevilla and saw bits of that stunning campus.

I tried to convince the kids to put international colleges on their wish lists, of course.

We learned that Charlotte needs to go at her own pace and that heat doesn't really agree with her.

She and I took a little break in a cool alcove until she was ready to go again.

One of the simple pleasures of traveling has been to meet missionaries in the wards we have attended on Sunday.

Each time, an elder has joined with our family to translate the sacrament meeting. Even though every single one has done such an amazing job, they have needlessly apologized for their inadequacies.

My heart has just swollen up with love for these boys and girls who serve doing their best and make more of a difference than they can ever know that they do.

Especially when I see Christian connect with them whole heartedly.

It was such a pleasure to have these missionaries join us for lunch. Not to mention watching our kids talk everything "mission" with them. I kind of felt a tight squeeze in my chest that this time next year, Christian will be off and away, too.

Following a lunch of local fare ... fish, fried anchovies, pork, and various vegetable raguots, we walked on over to the Seville Cathedral.

It was so ornate and lofty.

This church is the claim of Christopher Columbus' burial.

As I understand it, some of his remains are spread across several churches in Spain, but most of him is in the crypt right there and this is the church that holds the bragging rights. He was a resident of Seville, after all.

We climbed to the top of the bell tower.

Abraham gave us a bird's eye tour of the city.

Which is kind of the way to go when you have so little time paired with little feet that are subject to failure at any minute.

It's such a beautiful city.

Loved the gargoyles that could be seen out every window.

The church really reflects all the richness of Spain.

Our day was coming to a close.

As we walked back to the car park, this street performer pretending to be one of several heads on a table gave Christian and Newel quite a fright.

They didn't see it coming and the surrounding crowd got a good laugh.

The heat begged for an ice cream before calling it a day and we wrapped up a fabulous time taking in the beauty of Seville.